


Balance of Alliances

by Lorelei713



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Legends: Knights of the Old Republic, Star Wars Legends: Knights of the Old Republic (Comic)
Genre: Eventual Smut, F/M, Oral Sex, Post-Canon, Reylo - Freeform, Romance, Rough Sex, Sex, Smut, Underwater Sex, Wall Sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-23
Updated: 2017-12-08
Packaged: 2018-09-26 10:14:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 11,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9887528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lorelei713/pseuds/Lorelei713
Summary: Post-canon Reylo story (plot with a sprinkle of smut, of course).  I haven’t written for fun in years, but I’ve been inspired by the mysterious connection between Kylo Ren and Rey.  This is basically something to fill the void while awaiting Episode VIII.Please feel free to comment, and I hope you enjoy!(Obligatory Disclaimer:  Just for fun, not for profit!)





	1. The Next Encounter

**Author's Note:**

> This story starts out with Rey and Kylo meeting again, this time on Ach-To. I’m really not sure where I’m going from here, just writing and seeing where it takes me (I took my best guess at the tags).

Rey hit the muddy water hard as she fell, blindsided and knocked to the ground in an ambush on Ach-To. She saw a knight above her in the darkness, raising his weapon, intent on ending her. Before she could think, a jagged red light saber ran the knight through, casting a red glow in the darkness.  
She stood up quickly in the pouring rain, and saw him, standing with the other masked Knights of Ren. She recalled her vision when she first touched the lightsaber on Takodana. That vision of him felt familiar even then, as if she had seen him before, in her thoughts, dreams, maybe in her nightmares. She had encountered him in the flesh mere minutes after touching the saber, on that new and strange green planet.  
He had found her again. It was Kylo Ren, a faceless, feared commander of the ruthless First Order. Although she couldn’t see his face, she felt his eyes on her and sensed a shared feeling of déjà vu.  
“I told you to take her unharmed,” Kylo stated as he withdrew his lightsaber from the knight and kicked him aside, setting an example for anyone else who would dare to risk his plan.  
The ground was already littered with other bodies--the bodies of a small, separate band of storm troopers, one of the units sent to hunt down and capture this Force-using scavenger who helped destroy Starkiller Base. This was the unfortunate group that found her.  
Kylo had ensured their communications were blocked. It would look like the work of the storm. He had held back his knights and watched Rey intently, with a slight smile behind his mask, as she expertly dodged blaster shots and struck each one down. He had found her again. On her island.  
He had waited patiently for her to finish off the last one and breathe a sigh of false relief. Then the Knights of Ren moved in on her, with explicit orders not to harm her, no matter what she did to them.  
Rey, still disoriented and outnumbered, turned and started to run toward the old Jedi temple, over the slick, rocky terrain. She needed to put some distance between them to get her bearings. She was shaken by the first attack, but now even more so by this sudden encounter with him, so soon after their last meeting on Starkiller Base. Wait, had he just saved her?  
“Return to the Finalizer. I will take it from here,” he commanded. The other knights, sworn to obedience and secrecy, withdrew from the pursuit. It was just her and him now. He allowed her to run, knowing she wouldn’t escape his long strides for long.  
Rey tried not to slip as she ran in the blinding rain. It was her first experience with such a storm, and here he was, with her again. Just like her first experience in the forest, and her first time in the snow.  
Her mind raced about why he was here and how he found her. She knew he was supposed to be looking for Luke Skywalker, but she felt something else rippling through the Force. He was looking for her. She was his new objective.   
She could feel him closing in on her. She turned to see that he was closer than she thought, but now alone. She activated her lightsaber, and he followed suit.  
“Rey,” he said her name to her through his mask, as thunder rumbled around them. “You still want to kill me.”  
“I know you feel it,” he said as their sabers crossed and lightning flashed. “We have a connection.” He was more cautious this time. She was dangerous to him, in more ways than one.   
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” she yelled, unsuccessfully denying what she already knew to be true.  
“Aren’t you curious to know what it means? To find out more about who you are?” he asked, ignoring her lie and twirling his saber away from her.  
“I don’t need you to teach me anything!” Rey yelled as she swung again at him. “I don’t want to learn from a murderer! Someone who does the dirty work of some coward behind the First Order.” She wanted to hurt him as she thought about him abducting her, and killing or wounding her friends. She also felt a pang of discomfort as she clearly remembered Luke teaching her that such feelings lead to the dark side of the Force.   
Kylo also felt a pang of discomfort. Her words stung because of the truth in them. He knew he was in too deep with the First Order, but it was more complicated than that.  
He blocked her strikes as he had done before. Only defensive moves. He still didn’t want to hurt her, even if she wanted to hurt him. She was using her rage to fuel her power, but he had more than enough dark emotions to draw the same power. And he wouldn’t let her escape again.  
He ducked to the side just before she struck again, and this time he grabbed her by her wrists. As he tightened his grip and drew her closer, the ground shifted beneath them. They were nearby the edge of a cliff, and the rain had made the ground unstable.   
The ground seemed to collapse in slow motion. Kylo wrapped his arms around her as she lost her balance and the ground gave way. He used the Force to shield them from debris and to soften their landing, wherever that would be. This embrace surprised her almost more than the landslide, and she instinctively grabbed onto him as they fell.  
A thought crossed her mind: during their last battle, the ground had split apart, stopping her from killing him. This time, the ground split apart, forcing them together. She was oddly yet pleasantly aware of a feeling of comfort and belonging as she lost consciousness.


	2. The Bond

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thinking about the bond.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter becomes kind of a re-hash of the interrogation scene, just with my own head-canon.

Rey had gone to Ach-To to meet the legendary Luke Skywalker, hoping to convince him to come back to help the Resistance, and to help her understand and properly use her newly-discovered powers.  
When she finally reached the top of the mountain, Luke turned and looked at her, with a thoughtful, but almost surprised look.   
“Ben?” she thought she heard him whisper.  
“My name is Rey,” she had said. “I have your lightsaber.”  
“Rey?” he said as he took the saber.   
Luke couldn’t help feeling a bit like Yoda when he first met him all those years ago. An old Jedi, hiding out on a desolate planet. Yoda had centuries of knowledge, but Luke did not. This was the place of the oldest known Jedi temple, and he had spent the years learning from any archives and artifacts left. He studied and tried to make sense of life events that brought him to this place. Here he had stayed, like a less-than-enlightened monk, alone to contemplate memories of his past failures.  
Yet a thought from the Light Side entered his mind. He recalled some of Yoda’s last words to him. Pass on what you have learned. He knew what he must do.  
Once Luke’s shock of encountering another person in this place wore off, he went down to the Falcon. Tears welled in his eyes as he hugged Chewbacca and gave R2 a pat on the head with his robotic hand. He began to talk to his old friends and his new apprentice about the events that brought them to Ach-To.   
Rey was a young, bright, friendly soul, who had a hard life, but was still full of light. They had some things in common. They both grew up not knowing their parents, working hard on unpleasant outer-rim desert planets. They both knew little of the Force until they found themselves caught up in adventures neither had thought was possible for them.  
They got along well, and days passed. Rey was learning about the Force, the Dark and the Light, lightsabers, some Jedi history, and the Skywalker family. Luke trained her as well as he could in other abilities that were possible with the Force like mind tricks, telekinesis, and fighting styles. But Luke seemed hesitant to give her any information on what she wanted most. She wanted to know more about who she was, and although she tried to seem indifferent about it, she wanted to know more about Kylo Ren.  
“Did you call me Ben when I got here?” she finally asked.  
“I felt his presence as you approached,” he said with a sigh of discomfort. “I felt it when Han died through the Force, and I know my sister did, too. I felt something was coming, and I was sure Ben had found me and was on his way up the mountain to try to kill me, too, but instead it was you.”  
Now Luke felt like he understood Obi Wan’s uneasiness when he had first asked about what happened to his father, Obi Wan’s apprentice and good friend. He remembered Obi Wan thinking him not ready to know the truth about his father. He remembered also trying to keep the truth from his nephew about who his grandfather was.  
“I’ve been trying to make sense of that feeling. I think you two either formed or strengthened an existing Force bond during your encounters,” he continued. “There’s a bit of you in him now…and a bit of him in you.”  
Rey did not look surprised, but gulped a little. “I-,” she said. “I felt like I already knew his mother when she greeted me at the resistance base.”  
“Rey, we know you are very strong with the Force. You have only recently started tapping into it, and you’ve been surprising yourself of what you’re capable of. When you and Ben connected, I think you both became even more powerful. He will almost certainly find you now if he wants to, if he’s able to clear his vision enough to see through the darkness.”  
“I don’t know who you are or what your past is, Rey,” said Luke, “but I will do what I can to help you find out who your parents were and what happened to them. I’ve held back information from Ben in the past, and it was a mistake. I promise to let you know what I find, even if it’s not what either one of us wants to hear.”  
Knowing his time in hiding was at an end, Luke agreed to leave Ach-To and return to the resistance, and to his twin, Leia, who needed him now more than ever. He and Chewy had gone to another part of the planet for a couple days to get some supplies and take care of some business before they left.  
“My training was short, too,” Luke told her. “I needed to learn much on my own, as you will. We can’t be traditional Jedi, Rey. They are gone. If you want to continue this path with me, and the Force wills it, we will be the last Jedi. We’ll have to make due by researching what we can and listening to our feelings.”   
Rey’s feelings clearly told her to stay behind and explore her island and the old temple while they were gone. She wanted to try to make sense of recent events in her natural solitary state.  
Rey thought about the interrogation room on Starkiller Base. Something did happen between her and Kylo Ren when he took her as his prisoner. He took off his mask and showed her his face, something she got the impression he rarely did. His soft features and deep gaze was not what she expected from this monster.   
Kylo was strong with the Force, one of the only known Force-Users left. His expertise was reading minds and extracting information from his captives. His words told her he wanted the map to Luke, as those were his orders. But he seemed more interested in her. He delved into her more personal information first. Maybe because these feelings were always just under the surface and obvious to a mind-reader. Beneath her strength and mask of defiance, he felt her loneliness, fear of abandonment, and struggle with insomnia.  
Kylo was briefly captivated by hardships woven with hope and beauty that he saw in her mind. It had been so long since he’d encountered something so unique, yet with an air of familiarity. For a moment, just the two of them existed, and he almost smiled thinking about her peaceful island in the ocean, so different from her usual environment. But his mood quickly turned when he saw Han Solo and how she had feelings of him as a father-figure. That’s when Rey told him to get out of her head. She didn’t need his judgment. His sudden divergence from her mind made more sense once she learned that Han Solo was his father.   
When he focused his attention back to finding the map, she tried hard to keep him out. He was not used to the strength of her resistance. As he pushed further into her mind, something inside her told her to let go, to let him in. As she did this, she also entered his mind, uncovering his own inner turmoil and more specific fears. For a moment, they stayed locked in a gaze, locked in each others’ minds, intimately connected, seeing and feeling more of each other than they probably should.   
“Oh,” he barely whispered wide-eyed as the connection broke. He had never felt anything like it. The overwhelming feelings of pain, pleasure, confusion, familiarity, compassion, vulnerability, hope, and hopelessness shocked him so much that he left the room abruptly, not even thinking that she might use her newly-awakened powers to escape.  
Although she wanted to deny it, she had strong, albeit mixed, feelings about him. When she fought him on Starkiller, she had felt hatred toward him for his actions that she’d witnessed, and she despised his position with the First Order. Kill him, a voice in her head repeated over and over. It was shameful and it made her stomach turn, but in that moment, she may have ended him. Darth Vader’s grandson. Luke’s nephew. Han and Leia’s son.  
You shot first. She remembered the words he spoke to her at their first encounter on Takodana. I had to defend myself against you. You know nothing about me. Yes, she very well might have killed him had the ground not split between them, and she was thankful it did. She had looked back toward him before she boarded the Millenium Falcon and left the dying planet.  
There was a bond, uninvited but undeniable. She wanted to break it and explore it all at once. She felt him, sensed him, and thought about him more than she should. She brushed these feelings she shouldn’t have aside, but then came the dreams. She had several dreams of him since then. Visions of him next to her, above of her, behind her, beneath her, inside her. She would wake up ashamed, not so much by the dreams themselves, but by the twisted pleasure they gave her. She wanted to see him again, against her better judgment.  
Kylo felt the connection, too, and was careful to block his feelings that he knew he shouldn’t have for her. His master Snoke would sense any waiver in his dedication to the First Order. He had learned to shield his thoughts and blur them with his tumultuous emotions. Then he also had the dreams. They shocked him at first. He was sure Rey hated him for everything he had done and for everything that he was. But Force, he enjoyed them, too.  
Snoke demanded that Kylo now bring both Luke and Rey to him. This time failure was not an option. Although he had killed Han Solo to prove his loyalty to the First Order, he didn’t stop him from disabling the shields beforehand. He lost the droid and the map, lost a strong Force-Sensitive, and barely escaped the destruction of the galaxy’s most powerful weapon. Even if he didn’t see it yet, he was like his grandfather now more than ever. He was one of the only survivors of the destruction of the galaxy’s ultimate weapon, caused in part by a family member. And like the Emperor before him, Snoke was not pleased.   
Of course, Kylo proclaimed to Snoke that he could rectify the situation by bringing him the girl. He made it his primary task. But somewhere under his words, actions, and flaring emotions, his own personal agenda lay quietly, just out of reach. He knew he was unstable, unpredictable, and had a tendency to do his own thing. That’s why Snoke was always in his head. Slowly but surely, he had become a slave. He’s just using you for your powers. You know it’s true. He heard some of his father’s last words. He did know it was true, but he felt it was already too late. Now that Han Solo was dead, it was definitely too late. But he needed to see her again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't really know what business Luke had to attend to on the other side of the planet, but I had to get Rey alone for her encounter with Kylo. I'm sure Luke had to have something to take care of before he left. He was gone for a long time, right?


	3. Trapped Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kylo and Rey find themselves trapped in an underground cavern. All alone together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, I apologize for not posting for a while. I don't want the story to lose steam! This chapter is short, but I'll be posting the next one soon.

She opened her eyes in a cold, wet cave. A pain shot through her ribs as she inhaled. She hoped nothing was broken, but considering the fall, she could only thank the stars the damage bearable. A full recollection of the day’s events hit her and she sat up and looked around. Kylo was turned to the side, sitting a few feet from her with his mask off, the only light coming from a small, red lamp he had with him. She noticed that his hooded robe was wrapped around her.   
“Don’t be stubborn. You’re soaking wet and cold,” he said as she thought about throwing it back to him in defiance. She knew he was right and settled back down. She noticed that he had found both lightsabers, and they were placed at his side.   
“You will give me back my lightsaber,” she said with the utmost confidence.   
“Rey,” he said. “You know that won’t work.” He was right again. Well, it was worth a try.  
“What if I ask nicely?” she said sarcastically.   
“I don’t want to be killed in my sleep at this moment. Especially by someone I’ve saved twice today,” he replied.  
“I wouldn’t have needed to be saved if you hadn’t come after me,” she retorted.   
“Hmmph,” he breathed, looking her up and down. This time she was right.  
“Well, what do we do now?” she asked. “How do we find our way out of here?”   
“This place seems stable, and there’s some water flowing through over there, so we aren’t completely sealed off. We should get some rest for now. It’s been a long day for both of us,” he said. “Don’t worry,” he said as he felt her about to protest. “I won’t try anything. I’m hoping you won’t either.”  
“We were just battling and now you want to call a truce until morning?” she asked.  
“Yes,” he said.   
“Well, I don’t trust you,” she said. But she was tired and aching from the blow to the head and falling through the earth in a landslide. She sighed in defeat. “It’s going to be a long night.”  
His robe was a material that repelled water and seemed to somewhat regulate temperature. It was a little bit itchy, but she had lived the hard life of a scavenger. This had given her the ability to somewhat ignore and separate herself from whatever uncomfortable physical condition she found herself. Even so, she still felt the cold and pain creeping in as her adrenaline levels subsided.  
“Do you mind?” she said bluntly, giving Kylo the hint that she did not want him looking in her direction while she started taking off her wet clothes. She made sure to look back at him several times to make sure he was looking elsewhere, even though she was covered by the robe and the darkness. She considered leaving her undergarments on, but they were cold, wet, and muddy like everything else. She would stay warmer without them, she reasoned. With the cape draped around her, she hung her clothes on a nearby rock. A wet rock. Everything was wet and cold down here. She sighed. She wasn’t used to this climate.  
She curled up, naked, in the huge robe of her enemy. Amid the irony of this situation, she felt a twinge of concern. Not for herself sleeping next to her enemy, but for his well-being.  
“What about you?” She said. “You’re wet and cold, too.”   
“I’ll be fine,” he said. His clothes were of a similar water-repellent cloth, although it was still cold. “Get some rest and we’ll figure this whole thing out in the morning. Please.”  
She didn’t know if she should, but she trusted that he would at least honor this truce. She decided to accept his offer and settled in under the robe, meditating on healing her wounds. It wasn’t long before she fell asleep, and she fell asleep more easily than she could remember.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smut in the works for chapter 4 :)


	4. Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kylo and Rey stop fighting the realization that they have a thing for each other.

Rey awoke from her sleep slightly disoriented in the small cavern. Kylo had left the dim light on so they wouldn’t be in total darkness. He was lying on his right side with his arms crossed and his back against a stone wall. He was cold. It shouldn’t concern her, but it did. In her half-awake state, she crept over and put part of the robe over him. She curled up next to him under the rest of it, still being sure to leave some distance between them. Lying this close to him was unnervingly pleasant, and she quickly drifted off to sleep again.  
Her dream was disjointed and hazy, but soon became clear. Kylo stood behind her. He ran his fingers ran up her arm. She wanted him closer, and she pressed back into him. His hair brushed the crook of her neck as he leaned in closer. She tipped her head, relishing the feeling of his breath there, allowing his lips access to her neck. She heard him moan softly. Or did she moan? Out loud?  
She awoke with a start to find herself closer to him than when she fell asleep. Much closer. She had slid back into him and was moving herself rhythmically against his now obviously aroused body. She turned to see if he was still asleep. Mortified, she saw he was frozen with wide eyes and mouth partially agape.  
They were indeed sharing these dreams. A part of them both had wanted to deny it, and part that wanted to believe it. But at this moment, they both knew. Even so, neither one saw this coming.  
She got up with the robe flying up around her to cover herself, thankful the darkness covered her blushing face. “I-I, um…” she stuttered, trying to think of something to say.   
“Did you have another nightmare?” he said, trying to keep up his smug demeanor.

“I-I don’t know,” she said, busying herself with futilely checking if her clothes had dried. They hadn’t. “I didn’t…”   
“No harm done,” he said with his low, smooth voice. His erection could go away in a second with any number of thoughts he possessed. But he indulged himself with the brief thought of taking her right there and finishing what she started.  
“Keep the robe and just get your rest,” he said soothingly, suppressing his urges. “We’ll stick to our truce, and I won’t hold your ‘nightmares’ against you.”   
He turned over to where he was before, eyes closed, trying to appear completely calm and unaffected by what had just happened. Rey stopped messing with her clothes and sat down with the robe around her. She lied down and turned over when she realized she was still staring at him.  
Her breathing eventually slowed, and she felt tiredness again. No more dreams, she thought to herself. But a part of herself just didn’t care. She drifted off again.  
Kylo didn’t want to sleep, he didn’t want to lose control. He was also afraid to dream at this point. But a part of him didn’t care either. Sleep overtook him.   
He stood facing her, the scar on his face in full view. Tears welled in his eyes as Rey touched his scar. He was aware that this place where she marked him was last place his father had touched him before falling into the abyss. She ran her hand down his face and down his chest, and she moved in closer. Feeling his regret and self-loathing, his feelings of weakness and failure, she embraced him.  
He awoke suddenly, realizing that he had crawled over to her in his sleep and placed his head on her shoulder. He sat up and started to back away.  
“No,” Rey said, sitting up. He felt sweat drip from his forehead. “Stay.” The words tumbled from her mouth before she could hide her true feelings.  
He hesitated for a moment, still shaken from the dream and his unconscious action.   
“Stay,” she repeated, her eyes showing she was equally shaken and uncertain of where this was ultimately leading.   
Kylo slowly moved back toward her, their eyes locked together. He placed his head back on her shoulder, and she placed her arm around him. They lied there together in the faint light, silent and motionless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short chapter. Hope everyone likes where this is going. Smuttier smut planned for Chapter 5. Stay tuned!


	5. Cognitive Dissonance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kylo and Rey confront their uncomfortable feelings for one another.
> 
> Cognitive Dissonance: Psychological conflict resulting from incongruous beliefs and attitudes held simultaneously.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for taking so long to post again, and thank you if you're continuing to read this!

The two of them lay together, bound in some overwhelming magnetism. Rey was still under the cloak, and Kylo was still resting his head on her shoulder. Their feelings of comfort and acceptance slowly began to ebb as the realty of their situation silently closed in.  
Traitor! Kylo thought to himself. He was just as much of a traitor as that rogue Stormtrooper. No, he was worse. Lord Ren, curled up next to a pint-sized enemy who’d recently defeated him. Hux would have a field day. He winced at the thought.  
“I’m a traitor,” Rey said, echoing his thoughts. She sat up, clutching his cloak over her chest. Her mind was simultaneously comprehending the cruel paradox that her feelings were not what they should be.  
“W-what?” Kylo asked as her sudden confession snapped him out of his own selfish ruminations.   
“I finally made friends, almost a family. It’s something I’ve been wishing for my whole life. I finally found people who genuinely care for me, and I’ve betrayed them all.” Rey stood up, wrapping the cloak around her.  
“Maybe I should just be alone,” she said, and then felt anger for pitying herself. Kylo was at a loss for words, since he knew he was the one who led her down this path.  
“We’re both traitors then,” he finally said as he sat up next to her. “Everything I’ve worked for, sacrificed for. You knew my fears as soon as you pushed your way into my head, and you started bringing them all to fruition.” His eyes narrowed as he spoke. He wanted to accuse her of making him so obviously weak, so unfit to be a leader. He usually very much liked to place blame, but he took a breath and stopped himself. “I never meant to hurt you.”  
“Oh, really? Even when you flung me up against that tree? Maimed the first real friend I’ve had? Killed—“   
“Stop!” he cut her off before she could say it. “I didn’t mean to throw you like that. If you didn’t notice, our powers have been amplified since we’ve been in each other’s heads. You just flew. And I only incapacitated the trai--, your friend. That wasn’t the first time I’ve spared him, you know.”  
“Oh, would you like an award for not killing my friend?”  
“Yes, the list goes on and on, doesn’t it? I’m a monster, remember?” he snapped. “I’m trying to tell you I’m sorry. I’m sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused you. And,” he thought about her standing by in the shadows, next to her friend, watching as he killed his own father in cold blood. “And I…” he tried to go on, to explain, but could not speak of it. Maybe it was it was being alone with her. Maybe it was this damned place flowing with the Force. He felt overwhelmed. The guilt of his evil deed made tears well up, which brought the shame of letting any emotion but anger surface. It was suffocating.  
Rey could feel the pain and regret as he clenched his jaw and his eyes drifted further and further away. She moved into his view.  
“I’m sorry I tried to kill you all those times,” she said placing her hand on his arm, trying to stop his spiraling thoughts. “And thank you for pulling me to safety in the rock slide.” He saw her glance at the scar across his face. Their eyes met, and he took her hand in his.   
“They were given orders not to treat it, to leave it as a reminder of my failures,” he said. “But it’s my favorite scar.” He almost smiled.  
“I couldn’t stop thinking about you from the moment I first heard about you,” he admitted. “And I have to hide to hide my feelings from my telepathic master and basically everyone I deal with.”  
“I wouldn’t know what that is like.” Rey let out a short, ironic laugh, then sighed. “You were right. We do have a connection, don’t we? I’ve tried to deny it, but I feel like I know you. Even before we met. I can’t explain it. I feel like a traitor because,” she looked down. “I’m almost relieved that you found me.”   
Kylo remained silent, but a subtle smile stretched across his lips as he stroked his thumb along the top of her hand.  
“This could never work between us, you know,” Rey said, moving closer to him and looking him in the eyes. “You and me. This is just impossible.”  
“Yes, impossible” he said as he moved closer.  
“I still don’t trust you,” she whispered to him.  
“I know,” he said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've really wanted to post earlier, but I wanted to do it right. Hope I did it justice.


	6. Surrender

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally, some smut!

Rey took back her hand and backed away, but still held Kylo’s eyes with an enticing gaze. He held his breath. For a moment he was unsure of what she would do. Then she let go of his cloak and it fell around her waist, revealing her thin but muscular frame, and her perfect breasts. His breath escaped. She leaned forward and moved toward him on all fours, enjoying the feeling of anticipation he exuded. She touched her forehead to his, opened her lips, and pressed them against his.  
He moaned, savoring this kiss and running his hands up her back and into her hair. She pressed her tongue through his lips, and he slid his tongue back along hers. She let out a soft cry as he withdrew from the kiss and moved his lips to her neck. She tipped her head, exposing the vulnerable area to her former adversary, just as she had done in the dreams.  
Kylo kissed more deeply along her neck, one hand still in her hair, the other moving around to caress just beneath her breast. She let out another whimper. He could feel she wanted him to move his hand up and finally cross the physical line of intimacy, as if it hadn’t been crossed already. But this dark lord enjoyed teasing her. He gave her a devious look, and finally reached up and cupped her breast, and ran his thumb over her nipple.   
His eyes didn’t leave hers as his bites and light kisses traveled down her neck, over her collarbone, and to her other breast. He swirled his tongue around the hard bump of her nipple, then sucked it. Gently at first, then harder and harder. She yelped and moaned, enjoying this sprinkle of pain. He moved his mouth to her other breast and grazed his teeth over her erect nipple causing her to cry out again. The louder she was, the better he liked it. This was truly a gift from the Force.   
“You are entirely too dressed,” she said as she ran her hands up his shirt. She gasped when she felt metal attached to his right shoulder, where she had cut him with her lightsaber.   
“It’s okay, Rey,” he said, feeling her twinge of guilt. “I still have my arm, I just have some implants now to keep it moving like it should…”   
She pushed him back and straddled him. She kissed him furiously, somehow more turned on than ever. She broke the kiss only to take his shirt off as fast as she could, exposing a myriad of scars, visible even in the faint light. He pulled back a little as she looked at them, but soon forgot as she started to kiss his chest. Despite his wounds he was strong and fit. The body of a warrior.  
She moved her hands down to stroke him through the fabric, then reached in and grasped his hard cock. He smiled as he saw her smile at its size.  
There was no need for modesty between them. She felt as if they had been long-lost lovers forever. She moved back and spread her legs for him so he could see how wet she was for him.   
“Take the rest off,” she commanded him, and he gladly complied and removed the rest of his clothes. He moved his attention back to her eyes and kissed her deeply as he ran his hands up her thighs, and up to her slid his fingers around her slick and swollen heat. He moved her wetness up over her clit and circled it, causing her to cry out and rub against his touch. He began kissing her neck again as he moved his hand back down and pushed a finger into her tight pussy. She moaned and drove her hips up against his hand, and he slid in another one. He curled his fingers up into her and circled her clit with his thumb. She cried out with pleasure. She had done things like this with herself on those lonely nights on Jakku, but it never felt like this. She was beyond thinking about anything but this moment. Nothing else mattered. Nothing else existed.  
It wasn’t long before she climbed higher and higher to her orgasm. He felt her muscles begin to flutter and contract, and he moaned with her as he felt her waves of pleasure through their bond. He slowed just enough for her to almost recover, and then brought her back up to come again.   
She pushed him back so he was sitting up. She strattled him and took his cock in her hand, stroking it up and down, exploring every part of him. He let his one-time vicious enemy do with it what she desired. When she could no longer stand it, she lined his tip up with her slit and slid down onto him.   
She felt his pressure, a fullness, a feeling of being complete. He sighed loudly, held her, and stroked her hair as she slammed herself down on him over and over. She closed her eyes as she continued to ride him and ran her hands over the scars on his back. It had been so long since either one had truly been touched like this.  
It was more than physical. Their memories also started to mingle. Rey closed her eyes continuing her rhythm. She felt him. He was important, born with a certain amount of prestige. She yearned for this feeling of being someone.  
As Kylo thrusted up into her, he relished in her anonymity. No one judging her. She was free.  
“I want you to come with me, come inside me,” she panted, her hands gripping his hair, moving in sync with him. He held her tight and lightly kissed her as they both climaxed. They collapsed in each other’s arms. The cool air licked at the sweat on their skin, and they covered themselves with the cloak.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed that. Planning on posting the next chapter or two next week.


	7. Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Escape: "break free from confinement or control;" also "a means of distraction or relief, especially from reality."
> 
> Also. More. Smut.

Rey awoke to Kylo’s movement out from under the cloak. She watched as he stood up, naked and muscular and sexy as ever, looking around the cavern. She saw him take some water trickling down a wall into his cupped hands and drink.  
“Rey,” he said as he felt her wake. “Come drink some water.”  
She stood up, also naked and gorgeous, Kylo noted. She drank for a while, as much as she could. After the last crazy day, she could certainly use it.  
When she was finished, she saw Kylo looking down into a pool where the water had gathered along the edge of a wall.  
“This island is full of tunnels and caverns. I bet we fell into one,” Rey said.  
“I think you’re right,” Kylo said, still examining the area. “The water is warmer over here. Maybe this is a spring. We did fall quite a way down. There might be another room on the other side of this big rock slab.” He stuck his arm down into the pool. He grabbed his light and plunged it down into the water, seeming to have found something.  
“You think you found a way out of here?” Rey asked, slightly disappointed at the inevitable end to this entrapment with him. Kylo snorted out a laugh as he felt this pang of reality hit her.  
“We need to think ahead, Rey,” Kylo said as he moved back toward her and stroked her face reassuringly. “We can’t stay in this small room for long. And,” he kissed her forehead, “someone will come looking from us soon. Either your new master, or the First Order.”  
“Of course you’re right,” she said. “Absolutely right.” Yes, there was existence outside the two of them after all. And it would have to be faced soon enough.  
Rey watched Kylo tie his shirt to his pants to his cloak, making a rope of sorts.  
“Here, hold onto this,” he said, handing her one end of it, his eyes telling her he trusted her. “I’m going to look and see if there’s anything under this wall.”  
He took his light, squeezed his way into the narrow pool of water, and disappeared. Rey was counting the seconds, finding herself worried about his well-being as she counted on. Just when she thought he had been gone too long, she felt tugging at the other end. She breathed a sigh of relief as he emerged.   
“There is a room on the other side of this. It looks like this part of the wall is just part of the landslide. The room might lead to a way out,” he said, noticing again her twinge of concern of returning to reality. “Trust me, Sweetheart,” he said as he put an arm around her and smoothed her hair. “I don’t want this to end any more than you do. You know I feel it, too. But this cavern is small and I know neither one of us likes to be trapped. Grab your things. Your clothes are going to get wet again.”  
She rolled her eyes when she noticed that they had finally dried. Then she noticed he had left her lightsaber on them. She knew he felt her surprise as she looked up at him. He was gathering his things and tying them into a bundle. She did the same and met him at the edge of the room.  
“I’ll hold onto you, just come with me,” he said, noting that she felt some apprehension about going down blindly into a dark pool of water. She finally had learned to swim and loved the water, but squeezing through a tight, underwater crevasse seemed to give her a little claustrophobia.  
“Trust me,” he said, holding out his hand to her. He was already waist-deep. “If I can fit, so can you.” She dipped her feet in. It was warmer than she expected. They exchanged smiles.   
She watched as he barely squeaked through the underwater opening. She held her breath and followed him. One hand held her things, and the other held onto his arm with a death grip. She couldn’t see much under the dark water at all, so she kept her eyes closed. She tried to stay calm and hoped Kylo would bring her to the surface soon. The water seemed to warm up the deeper they went. Just as she started to panic, unsure of how much longer she could hold her breath, thinking he could have led her to a horrible death, she felt his arms wrap around her waist and thrust her up above the surface of water. She took a deep breath, and tried to calm her own shaking. Kylo continued to embraced her and watched her as she looked around. He set his things on the ledge of the pool, and then took her bundle from her and put her things next to his.  
Her mouth had dropped open. It was another part of the Jedi temple, one that she had not seen before. It was an actual room, not the small caved-in area they had just come from. The ceiling seemed to glow and there were beautiful ancient carvings in the stone walls. Large pillars stood around the pool, and around what looked like a doorway to another area, maybe a way out of this mountain.  
“Those are bioluminescent creatures that bring light to the room.” He turned off his red light and the room was lit by a dim blue light emanating from the beings that made their home there.   
“I had no idea those even existed,” she said, still in awe. “They weren’t in any of the other areas I’ve explored.”   
“The sea has many creatures like that. Creatures who dwell in the dark and make their own light,” he said, realizing he was freely talking about the “light.”  
“Are you glad you trusted me?” he asked.   
“Yes,” she moved her arms through the water, then turned her attention back to him. “Absolutely.”  
“I bet those tunnels will lead out of here,” he said as he brushed her wet hair out of her face. Then he leaned in close and whispered in her ear, “But I’m not in a hurry to explore them yet.”  
Kylo ran his hands up her back and Rey felt the heat rising from her center, her need for him growing. He leaned in to kiss her. She opened her mouth to him whimpered as he ran his tongue over her bottom lip and then into her mouth. She pressed her breasts against his chest and moved herself up against his hardness. She felt the burning desire between her legs increasing and creeping into the rest of her body, almost becoming painful. He lifted her up and sucked and nipped at her breasts, knowing it would only intensify her body’s shameless instincts.  
She buried her hands in his hair and pulled as he moved his mouth along her neck, grazing his teeth over her skin. She reached down to grab his manhood, wanting him to fill her again, but he grabbed her wrist and pulled it up.  
“Not yet,” he said, giving her an impish grin. She gasped as he flipped her over and lifted her out of the water. He set her down with her belly on the floor, her legs in the water, and her ass hanging off the ledge. She screamed as he slapped one of her cheeks, and she let out a cry as he pressed his tongue along her impatient cunt. This was a new sensation to her, and she absolutely loved it.  
“Yes,” he said as he slapped her ass again. “Scream for me.” He dove his tongue in and out of her while circling her clit with one hand and pulling her hair with the other.  
“Oh Kylo!” she yelled, accepting the fact that she enjoyed him being a little rough. She would never be able to challenge him to another fight without soaking her undergarments. She smiled at the thought, then quickly cried out again.  
Kylo was also enjoying himself. He was relentless in driving her to orgasm. He tightened his grip on her hair and held her down to the floor as he felt her reach her peak.  
There was something about being held down and pleasured by this man. Being at his mercy. Waves of pleasure came over her. She cried out loudly, with the side of her face pressed against the temple floor.  
Now he was aching to have her. He slid her back into the water, reached around to fondle her breasts, and kissed her neck. She turned around toward him and kissed him, tasting her pleasure from his lips.   
“Oh, fuck, Kylo,” she said, still sounding out of breath, her breasts heaving upward with each inhale. She had just come harder than ever before, but she wanted even more of him. “I want you to fuck me, I need you inside me,” she whispered, panting into his ear.  
He kissed her again and grabbed his cock. He loved it when she used course language. His eyes caught hers and held them as he put the tip against her to tease her again. “Tell me again what you want, my dear.”   
She continued to look deep into his eyes and told him again what she wanted him to do to her.  
“Kylo Ren,” she said, slowly and explicitly, “I want you to take your massive cock and fuck my tight pussy until I scream.”  
He let out a growl as she licked his neck and earlobe and dug her nails into his back. He thrust his cock into her up to the hilt, and she did scream. He drove into her again and again, hitting a spot inside her that sent surges of pleasure through them both. He increased the pace of his thrusts, as they headed for an overwhelming sensation of ecstasy.   
Kylo grunted and groaned felt her muscles contract as she screamed. This sent him over the edge and he pushed deep inside her, coming into her. They held each other tight in the water, trembling and dazed by what they had just shared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been posting chapters 2 and a time, but this time it is just one. I'll try to keep on top of posting regular updates. Thank you again for reading :)


	8. Sympathy for His Devils

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kylo lets Rey in on some of his past. And a clue to her own powers.

                Rey lifted herself up onto the ledge and out of the water.  She shivered a little now that the heat of passion had subsided.  Kylo watched as she began to lay out her clothes and wrung the water out of her long hair.  He followed her out of the pool and unrolled his clothes.  Unlike hers, his were already starting to dry.  He handed her his shirt.

                “Here,” he said as he handed it to Rey.  She smiled and put it on.  The sleeves were way too long and the length went down to her mid-thigh.  It was perfect.  She had to admit, the First Order did have some practical uniforms. 

                “Thank you,” she said.  “I’m warmer already,” she said and sat down against a stone wall, pulling her knees up under the shirt.  Kylo put on his pants and sat down next to her with the side of his arm touching hers.  He put the cloak over them both and turned on his light again, this time with the setting was on a regular light instead of the softer red color it had been.  It illuminated the room enough to see undisturbed yet ancient remains of pillars, engravings, and what looked like a small altar.

                “I thought I had seen all the parts of the temple on this island.  I don’t even know where this would connect.  What do you think this part of the temple is?”  Rey asked. 

                “I think it might be some sort of spot for meditation, judging by the pools and pillars,” he replied.  “It seems like a peaceful place.”

“Yes, it does have a peaceful feel to it,” Rey agreed.

As they sat in silence, Rey’s mind considered what they had just done in this sacred place.  She wondered what Luke and her friends would think if they knew, but for some reason it didn’t bother her as much as it had not long before.  At this moment it felt too right to be wrong.

Kylo also started to think about how Snoke was right; he did have compassion for her.  Han Solo was also right; Snoke would destroy him for this weakness, in one way or another.  And he put Rey in Snoke’s sights.  He knew it as soon as he had finished impetuously telling Snoke of her powers, and his failure.  Had he damned them both?  Despite these thoughts, he felt a sense of calm that he hadn’t felt in a long, long time. 

Rey put her head on his shoulder and Kylo reached up to stroke her hair.  He sighed, sharing this serene moment.  Their bond was no longer denied by either one, and an energy flowed between them.  It was just them now.  Moments such as these were rare and to be cherished.

After a while, Rey got up and walked toward one of the pillars that had caught her eye.  It had ancient writings engraved in polished stone, and crystals inlayed in a design.  Kylo followed behind.  She reached out her hand and touched the pillar, but then pulled her hand back as if she had been burned. 

“Careful what you touch around here,” he said to her.  “I’m surprised that you would touch something like in a place like this, considering your ability.  Or did my uncle neglect to explain that one to you?”

“What are you talking about?” she asked.

“We have the same power,” he replied.  “A rare one, apparently.  They called it ‘psychometry.’  I know you have it.  You can pick up events, emotions, knowledge from touching objects, and people.  You don’t always care to be touched, do you?”

Rey shook her head no.  She thought about yelling at Finn every time he took her hand when they had first met.  She thought about visions she had seen touching some of the objects she scavenged, and the first time she touched her lightsaber.

 “I caught some glimpses when I boarded the Falcon on Starkiller,” he said.  “Oh, yes.  You flew that hunk of junk like an expert without actually having flown a ship before.  Tell me, do you know why Han Solo gave you such a strange look when you bypassed the compressor?”

Rey shook her head again.  She thought it was a weird look he gave her, but it _was_ weird that she figured it out like that.

“In that moment, you reminded him of me,” he said.  He clenched his jaw for a moment and continued on. “When I was young, I instantly knew how to do things without having learned in a…traditional sense.  That led to some problems when I learned things that I shouldn’t know.  I think my parents wanted to have a normal life, but I came along and made them realize that was not in their cards.  What did they expect, though?  My father had seen Force abilities first hand, as much as he wanted to pretend he didn’t.  My mother always had abilities, they just weren’t so obvious.  Since the Force sensitives had been all but eradicated, well, you can imagine I was a bit of an oddity.  So they sent me to live with someone still known to be a Force user, my uncle.”

Kylo turned and sat back down, running his hands through his damp hair.  Rey knelt down next to him, her face concerned about the anxiety he was experiencing.

“Luke would take me searching for Jedi artifacts.  I actually enjoyed going with him, since we were both always trying to learn more.  One day, we ran across a Jedi holocron that spoke of psychometry.  I was elated that we finally found some information on the power of mine that was so hard to deal with,” he said and then paused for a moment.  “But after describing the ability, it said it was considered a dark-side power, something too dangerous for the Jedi to encourage using.  Apparently, it was too hard on the bearer of it, as they could relive the pain and other dark emotions of others and so be drawn to the dark side.  That was a turning point when I started to question if what I was learning was true.  And if it was true, I was just destined to be a villain?  I know Luke felt bad about the message, he tried to tell me that abilities were neither dark nor light, it’s how we use them.  He said he felt that in his heart.”  Rey knew he hadn’t really talked about this before, or thought about it much until recently.  She took his hand in hers.

“Did they tell you how I found out that Darth Vader was my grandfather?” he asked, his dark eyes looking up at her.

 “Luke told me that a political rival of your mother’s ran across a personal message from her father, telling her about her birth parents in case he didn’t get the chance to tell her,” the words left Rey’s mouth so he wouldn’t have to tell her.  “That woman played choice parts of the message in a public speech and accused your mother of being in league with the empire all along.  She accused Luke of being dangerous, and you were thrown into the mix as well.  Luke said it was a mistake not telling you, and that they should have told you sooner.  But they didn’t think anyone else knew, or that you would ever find out in such a terrible way.”  She placed a hand on his back, wanting to comfort him.

“I understand now why they did what they did.  My heart has softened recently,” he said as he stroked her face.  “But at the time I was angry.  Not only did I become outcast, but I felt like they hindered my powers by keeping me in the dark, and by making me ashamed of who I was.  But I still stayed around, I still helped Luke for years.  He tried to get me to understand, but I didn’t want to hear it.  I didn’t trust what he told me anymore.  I became distant, started doing my own research, which included learning about the forbidden dark side from Snoke.  And why not?  I was an accused dark-side collaborator anyway.  Were they really surprised I turned to a place where my abilities were honored and rewarded?”

“Luke told me that he had a funeral pyre for Vader on Endor, so I went there to see what I information I could glean for myself.  I found his remains after all those years.  When I reached down to touch his mask I understood why some with this ability were driven mad.  I had never felt such physical pain and emotional anguish.  So much suffering,” Kylo shuddered at the memory.  Rey squeezed his hand, and tears welled up in her eyes as she caught some glimpses of his memories.  She stared getting dizzy and feeling dissociated from reality.  A slew of negative emotions bombarded her.  Kylo pushed her back, seeming to know what was happening.  “There was too much to process at once.  But one thing I saw was his old Jedi master, Obi-Wan ‘Ben’ Kenobi, disfigure him on Mustafar.  I was named after the one who left him to burn.  That was when I took the name Kylo instead, part Skywalker and part Solo.  No one had used my given name for years, until Han Solo called out to me.  On Starkiller.”

Rey felt an ache creeping through her chest, a despair consuming her as he spoke of his last encounter with Han Solo.

 “Han Solo knew I could feel things by touch, so he tried not to touch me.  He seemed to avoid communicating with me, even normally.  Not until the very end.  He knew what he was doing when he touched my face,” Rey gulped as she looked over the scar she had given him, realizing the ironic placement of it.  “All the things he wanted to tell me, all of his conflicting emotions about me, all of his regrets, his love for me and my mother, the shame he felt for leaving us.  He put his own emotions onto me.  He wanted forgiveness.  I felt the pain of my lightsaber, but it paled in comparison with the pain he felt for me.  He gave me clarity in that moment, where he waited too long and I acted too soon, and I instantly regretted what I had done.”

Kylo felt the saber rip through his gut again as he relived the memory of the chaos that day.  Rey wrapped her arms around his waist and nestled her head into his chest.  He put his arms around her and held her tight. 

“I was led to believe that this is what I had to do as part of my training, that this would extinguish any light inside me and end the pain from the conflict I felt.  I could then aptly lead the Knights of Ren, which would be to the First Order as the Jedi Order was to the Old Republic.  But it made me more conflicted than ever.  Especially when I saw you.  Standing there witnessing everything.  With your friend.  Finn.” Kylo backed up, his glassy eyes met hers, and he continued his confessions.  “Rey, I was actually envious of him.  My father liked him, _you_ liked him, and he had enough faith to do the right thing and leave the First Order.”

“You want to leave the First Order?” she asked as she looked at him, her eyes full of cautious optimism.  “I thought you wanted to take me back there to join you.  Against my will.”

“I said I was conflicted,” he said.  “Don’t assume too much from me.  My orders are to capture you, Rey.”  He looked away and then looked to her again.  Her eyes were concerned but still full of hope.  “But I never said that was _my_ plan,“ he continued.  “I only offered to train you in the ways of the Force.  You assumed I would take you to my master.  My loyalties to the First Order have been…compromised as of late.  I watched you take out that band of stormtroopers, and I made sure their communications were jammed by that convenient storm.  By the time they figure out what happened, they’ll assume you escaped, and they’ll continue their search elsewhere.  Even the other knights don’t know we’re still here.  There’s something else helping us, too.  The temple was built here because of the way the Force flows in this place.  A place like this makes it hard for even Force users to know what’s going on.  Luke knew that, that’s why he was able to hide here for so long.”  Rey felt a tinge of optimism.

“A Force field?” Rey asked with a smirk.  She couldn’t help attempting to ease the tension.

Kylo finally let out a laugh at her attempt to lighten the situation.

“Oh, Rey,” he said, hugging her again.  “You were the one I was waiting for.  I didn’t fit into the light.  I thought I would fit in with the dark side, but I still don’t.  You’re both my siren drawing me to my doom and my savior from it.  Thank you.  For calling me back from the darkness.”

“I tried to fight against it,” she said with a frown.  “I didn’t pull you back.”

“You’re here,” he said.  “You followed your own light and it led you to me.  For that I thank you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for taking so long to post (relatives visiting, school, work, life happening, blaaah). Hope you all continue to enjoy where this is going.


	9. Crystals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey decides to test out her psychometric powers on some neat artifacts in the ancient, buried Jedi temple.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really apologize for not posting in so long, if anyone is still following this one. Life happens, what can I say? TLJ is coming out SOON, and I really want to wrap this one up before the ACTUAL conclusion to the Force Awakens happens. I plan to have a few more chapters coming up soon.

Kylo watched as Rey went to touch the crystal set in the pillar one more time.  He stood behind her and this time grabbed her hand, sensing that she would pick up some powerful images from this object.  She was curious of this ancient place.  She closed her eyes and touched it.

Much like touching the lightsaber for the first time, she found herself jolted from reality.  Before her eyes flashed images of an ancient war:  skies red with flames, light sabers and other weapons, explosions, carnage and death.  Not just a regular battle, she felt brother turn against brother, friend against friend.  Jedi against Jedi?  This battle was part of a great divide in the galaxy that happened long ago.

Time stood still and she experienced fear, anger, hate, and suffering coursing through her being.  Then the abandonment of this place, haunted by terrible events, forgotten and buried.  She always had hope in her life, but now she felt overwhelming despair fall over her, a terrible lonely darkness.

Kylo also shared in her experience, but having had more practice with touching artifacts tainted with darkness, he still held a partial grasp on their own reality.  He hugged her tightly and kissed the crook of her neck.  Rey was drawn back from the dark vision.  Now, a spark of light ignited and exploded out of the dark.  She saw creation, the start of something simultaneously new and ancient.  The dance between the dark and the light.  Old friends, dancing forever.

Rey tore her hand from the pillar, and backed away, breathing erratically.  Kylo felt a sudden flash of anger from her.  She looked at him with darkness in her eyes and used the Force to push him against a wall.

"Rey?" he asked, hoping she was okay.  "Rey!"�

"You!" she hissed. "You put me out!"�

"What?"

"You made me unconscious!  When we fell into this place, just like before!:"

"I couldn't fight you and a landslide,"� he admitted it.  "But you let it happen this time, I couldn't make you.  Not anymore.  You could have stopped me, but didn't.  Ant it kept us from being crushed in the rubble."

His words rang true and some of her rage subsided a little.

"You could have done it, too.  But you're new to your training.  And you had just single-handedly fended off a squad of storm troopers and the Knights of Ren, including me."

She softened even more at his words and let him go.  She sunk to her knees.

"I don't know what came over me."  She was almost feeling like herself again.

Kylo knelt down beside her.  When he met her eyes, he saw a tear fall down her cheek.Â As he brushed it away with his thumb and stroked her hair, he felt a tear fall down his own cheek.

"What was that?" she asked.  "What happened in this place?  It seemed so peaceful."

"That," he said, "was definitely one of the most intense objects I've come across.  I think these events happened elsewhere and the crystals were brought here to the temple.  Like a record of a forgotten history.  Crystals can be used to store and transmit information.  Someone saw it fit to have a reminder that the darkness is real."�

"And you,"� he continued, "just absorbed some of the energies of things past.  You experienced a long-ago war, in a short, intense amount of time.  Without proper training, you can almost be possessed by past entities.  Psychometric powers are dangerous.  "I'm sorry.  I should have prepared you better.  Who knows what else is lurking in this ancient place."

"I think the crystal was calling to me when it caught my eye,"� she said still feeling a bit raw from the emotions that had coursed through them both.  The Force brought us here to witness this.  The two of us together.  I don't think this was meant for only one person to endure."

Rey reached up to hold Kylo's face in her hands, thinking how much difference a day could make.  She looked into his eyes, and saw his sadness and suffering, his regrets.  She saw him being manipulated by Snoke with half-truths and led down the path to darkness.  She saw the torment of hell in his eyes, but also a light.  The light that was always there, the same light that had kept her from losing hope during her life as a scavenger.

He knew what she saw when she looked at him.  She saw his darkness and wasn't frightened away.  She had the heart of a warrior and a faith that allowed her to reach into the depths to find him.

"I've been walking in the shadows,"� he said.  "I have always felt a pull to the light, but I needed to conceal it the deeper I went into the dark."


	10. Ghosts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meanwhile, on Ach-To....Luke is doing his thing elsewhere.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Getting really close to TLJ premier! I'm determined to finish whatever has been floating around in my brain on this story before this is totally an alternate universe. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy.

Luke was visiting the different islands of Ach-To one last time.  He was gathering artifacts and holocrons he felt might be useful to Rey's training--and to keep them out of the hands of the First Order.  He figured they would be finding Ach-To soon.

 _Just as well_ , he thought.  He had been on this planet avoiding others long enough.  He hoped Rey would be alright, but she wanted to stay behind.  As the violent storm raged across the small world, Luke decided to spend the night at one last stop.  They would return when the storm let up, although storms could go on for quite sometime on this planet lately.  It was still hard to sense her, but the planet could sometimes interfere with the flow of the Force, which of course was part of its appeal. 

As he sat and pondered many things, he heard a familiar voice calling his name.

"Obi-Wan?"�

For the first time in a long time, the ghost of Obi-Wan appeared.

"I know you have your misgivings about returning to help fight the First Order," Obi-Wan said.  "But the time for you to act has come."�

"A new pupil you have,"� another voice said.

"Yoda?"

"Strong with the Force is she.  Scares you, her power does.  Reminds you of someone."�

"I'm no teacher.  I've failed bringing up new Jedi.  I've only made things worse,"� Luke said.

"Stop feeling sorry for yourself and listen you should."�

"She needs your support," said Obi Wan.

"Who is she?"  Luke asked.

"She," Obi Wan paused, "She is my granddaughter."�

"What?"

"Her grandmother hid her mother from me, just as I hid you and Leia from your father."�

"But why?"

"It was a tumultuous time.  She hid our daughter from everyone, I never knew while I lived.  It was right before her assassination, and near the end of the Jedi Order.  If she hadn't done what she did, well...you can imagine."

"One of two pieces for balance, your new apprentice is."�

Luke looked down.  His nephew came to mind, and it was obvious to the Jedi ghosts who stood before him.

"You must face Ben, and what he has become."

"An understanding heart have you," Yoda's ghost was still somehow able to poke at his chest. "Turned Vader back to the Light, you did."�

"They will both need your support."� Said Obi-Wan.

"No longer can you hide and dwell in the past,"� Yoda added. "Soon must you face that which you have sought to avoid."�

"Follow your feelings, Luke."

And then they were gone.

Luke closed his eyes and took a deep breath.  Suddenly an image flashed before him of Rey, and next to her, Kylo Ren.

Luke got up and made his way back to the ship, where Chewy and R2 were waiting on board.

"Let's go get Rey and get back to the resistance," he said.

He heard a soft roar and some beeps in agreement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for any formatting issues. Feel free to leave comments.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you're enjoying the story so far. I will post additional chapters as my free time and the muses allow. As always, please feel free to comment.


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